This installment in my blog post series on how to scale-up your brand introduces two brand tools. Use them in your process of developing or refining the strategic platform of your brand. They will help you identify and clearly articulate your brand purpose, values, and attributes. […]
Good to Great, the bestselling book by Jim Collins, offers timeless insights into what it takes to become great. It applies not only to businesses, but also to brands, people, churches, non-profits, governments, communities, and more. I recently revisited the text, along with the monograph accompanying it, Good to Great and the Social Sector, and […]
I originally wrote this piece for the Harvard Business Review. It was published on HRB.org on March 28, 2014. As a member of a start-up advisory program, I regularly hear pitches from aspiring technology entrepreneurs. My job is to sort out the companies with potential from those that need to go back to the drawing […]
You’ve got brand-building questions; I’ve got answers! Today I’m introducing a new short series of videos to address the questions I frequently hear about brand-building. My answers are taken from my recent media interviews, so they’re based on real-live issues. Take a look at the first installment: How should we evolve or extend our brand? Brand […]
From What Great Brands Do: Focusing on the core of your brand – and staying committed to that focus – is the key to building a strong brand. This is the latest in a series of quote posters from my book. Check out the updated collection of posters so far — and feel free […]
As i help companies define or re-define their brand strategies, we articulate the core values and attributes of their brands. We distill from all the things that could be said about their brands the most distinctive and defining elements. […]
Pivoting can be a start-up’s smartest move or the last nail in its coffin. For every Twitter (which started as a podcast subscription network before its founders realized that iTunes would quickly overtake them, so they turned their attention to microblogging), there’s a Color (a photo-sharing cellphone application whose founders tried unsuccessfully to pivot into […]
From What Great Brands Do: To be great, you need to say no. I thought of this insight when I read a recent Businessweek article by Lindsay Rupp, “J. Crew CEO Drexler Says Retailer Will Sit Out Athletic Trend.” J. Crew Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mickey Drexler is quoted as explaining the decision, “Where we thought […]
From What Great Brands Do: Emotional brand-building requires you to develop a personal dialogue with your customers on the issues that are most meaningful to them. Remember, when connecting with customers, it’s WIFM — what’s in it for me (the customer)?! other #WGBD quotes: you have nothing worth communicating what business are we really in? […]
– the book: Aaker on Branding: 20 Principles That Drive Success – the brain: One of the definitive voices on branding, David Aaker. Dave has published more than 100 articles and 15 books on branding, brand strategy, and brand management, including Managing Brand Equity and Building Strong Brands, two texts that have served as my […]